


Sinking Slow

by Loser_Angel_666



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Fix-It of Sorts, M/M, Near Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-03
Updated: 2020-09-03
Packaged: 2021-03-06 18:13:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,513
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26273158
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Loser_Angel_666/pseuds/Loser_Angel_666
Summary: "He doesn’t remember how he got to the academy, but now he’s dragging a dying Dave through the door and yelling for help."OrKlaus brings Dave back to 2019 in hopes of saving him
Relationships: Ben Hargreeves & Klaus Hargreeves, Diego Hargreeves & Klaus Hargreeves, Klaus Hargreeves/David "Dave" Katz
Comments: 7
Kudos: 208





	Sinking Slow

**Author's Note:**

> Title is from the song Sinking Slow by Ezra Furman, who is my new favorite musician so GO LISTEN :)
> 
> brief flashbacks and ptsd, keep in mind that I do not have much experience with this, but I tried my best. 
> 
> ptsd and trauma are very real issues and my intention is not to romanticize or glorify this in any way. Plus it doesn't play much of a part in the fic overall, it's just some angst and the characters are traumatized (how could they not be) :(
> 
> Dave and Klaus deserve all the love, I just want them to be happy! (So let me know if I should make this a series and maybe I'll give all of the siblings the love and happiness they deserve)

It’s 2019. The Vietnam war has been left far behind them, but the feeling of fast approaching doom seems to have followed Klaus through time. He still hears the bullets and the screaming and he can still smell the horrible food and the sweat and the blood. He doesn’t remember moving from Dave's side, but suddenly the briefcase was in his hand. He doesn’t remember how he got to the academy, but now he’s dragging a dying Dave through the door and yelling for help.

Grace is there, calm and collected with worry stretched across her face. They somehow get into the infirmary. Klaus hates the smell of the sterilization and the blankness of the walls and the white sheets and the tiled floors. But Mom is going to save Dave. It will all be okay. It will be okay. He’s not going to die. Mom can save him. Klaus repeats the mantras over in his mind.

Dave is unconscious. A worrying amount of blood soaks through his shirt and jacket and pools on the hospital bed around him. Grace works silently and quickly, seemingly unworried while Klaus holds Dave’s hand in a death grip. Diego stands in the doorway with wide eyes and concern written across his face.

Eventually, Grace tries to wave Klaus from the room, but he’s adamant on not leaving Dave’s side until Diego puts his hand on his shoulder and whispers to him. Klaus nods stiffly, staring at Dave, who looks so still and so dead and he cries. He brings Dave’s hand up to his lips and whispers promises of being back soon. “You’ll be okay, Dave, I’ll be right back. I’m not leaving you. It will all be okay.” And he lets Diego drag him out of the infirmary.

Klaus ignores Diego’s questions and goes for the stairs, but Diego follows him. Klaus doesn’t have it in him to feel guilty for worrying Diego. He should have realized he was gone and come to get him from Hazel and Cha-Cha. But he couldn’t really blame him for not noticing, he was always sneaking out. 

“Klaus, come on man, talk to me.” Diego says but Klaus just slumps into the bathroom and shuts the door in his face.

He feels like with every step he’s just dragging himself along. The cold water of the bath feels good on his hot and bloodstained skin. He has to scrub Dave’s blood off his hands. He squeezes his eyes shut against the flashback, but the memories of fear and death and gun fire come anyway. He lets himself sink under the water, hands over his ears, until the memories of war and the ghosts yelling for him start to merge into one. Screaming and gunfire and mangled corpses and Dave’s blood pooling beside him while a woman with a bullet in her head cries out for Klaus to help her. 

Klaus pushes himself out of the water, shaking his head and tugging desperate fingers through his hair. Reaching for his lighter with wet and shaking hands. 

Once he’s out of the bathroom, Diego is gone. But he only has a few short moments of peace while he tugs on some of his old clothes before little number Five is standing in his doorway. Five shows concern, if only for a short moment, sympathizing with Klaus as best as he can with his cold and lonely old man demeanor. But then he asks for the suitcase and it’s back to the good old Klaus can’t do anything right. 

Klaus tries to go back to the infirmary, but Pogo is standing with Diego outside the doorway, talking quietly. 

“Mr. Klaus, I’m sorry, but you cannot go in there yet.”

“But Dave-”

“Grace is doing her best. It would be best if you weren’t there to distract her.” Pogo cuts him off. 

Klaus looks at the door to the infirmary with defeat. His shoulders sinking even lower. He isn’t paying attention enough to see Diego’s hand reaching out only to pull back on second thought. Diego looks concerned, a pained expression settles sadly on his features at how Klaus is clearly suffering.

“We’ll let you know as soon as he’s stable. You’ll be there when he wakes up.” Diego promises and Klaus nods. “Do you want waffles?” he offers, and Klaus seems to shake himself from his thoughts, a smile spreading thinly across his face. 

“Waffles sound great, What do you say Ben?” He says the second part to empty air and Diego is too concerned with Klaus and the thought of a stranger dying in the other room to focus on the fact that Klaus is still apparently talking to their dead brother.

It takes Diego halfway through the first waffle to get Klaus to open up. And he doesn’t say much. But he talks about how he loves Dave. “He’s kind and strang and vulnerable…” And he’s crying. Diego isn’t big on hugs, but he wraps an arm around Klaus’ shoulders and pulls him into a side hug anyway.

***

Dave is not going to die. He’s expected to sleep through the rest of the day, and he won’t be able to walk for a little bit, but he’s alive. He’s okay. And Klaus is still trying to block out the memories of him lying heavy in his arms with blank eyes. Because he isn’t going to die.

“So, are you going to tell me what happened?” Ben asks the following evening. 

“The briefcase took me to Vietnam. 1968.” Klaus says, eyes closed.

“And you fought?” Ben asks, but he already knows the answer.

“Yep. 10 months baby.”

“Why didn’t you just come back? You were dropped into a war zone and decided to stay there?”

“I wasn’t sure how to work the suitcase. What if it took me somewhere worse? And then I met Dave, and he gave me a reason to stay.” Ben doesn’t say anything for a moment, so Klaus continues on. “Then he got shot. And I couldn’t… I had to get back here.”

“I’m sorry Klaus.” Ben says softly. Klaus doesn’t look at him, he just smiles his saddest smile and nods, holding onto Dave’s hand a little tighter.

***  
Dave has been in and out of consciousness, Klaus explaining briefly that they were safe and everything was okay. But Dave was still too doped up on painkillers and exhaustion and Klaus didn’t want to freak him out too bad. How do you tell someone that they just traveled 51 years into the future after almost dying? 

It’s almost three days since they first arrived when Dave is fully conscious and able to comprehend what’s going on. Klaus tries to explain the best he can while Grace goes to get him something to eat and Diego lurks in the doorway.

“Wait, wait, wait… So it’s 2019?”

“Yes, that’s what I just said,”

“It’s 2019.”

“Yep…”

“It’s 2019.” Dave whispers to himself for the third time, eyes wide. “Okay. I’m okay. It’s 2019. But I’m okay. How did we- where- how?” He shakes his head and grips Klaus’ hand. “It’s 2019.” He says again and Klaus chuckles, kissing the back of Dave’s hand.

“I know it’s a lot, but hey, at least you’re not dead!” Klaus says, and then he cringes when Dave looks at him in horror. “You had been shot Dave. I had to take you here, you would have… you were- You’re okay now though.”

“It’s okay.” Dave whispers and Klaus doesn’t know whether he’s talking to Klaus or himself, “Not like I had much for me in 1968 anyway, right?” He smiles and Klaus laughs with glossy eyes.

“My family is insane, but I’m sure they’ll love you. Not so sure you’ll love them though,” Klaus laughs.

“We’ll figure it out.” Dave says. 

Diego watches them from the doorway, smiling. Dave may have dropped out of nowhere, but somehow he already trusts him. Plus, he’s happy for Klaus. He’s almost envious of the way Dave is smiling at him like he’s everything he’s ever wanted, when Eudora, who had never looked at him like that to begin with, was gone. 

Still, Diego is glad that Dave didn’t end up dead, because he gets to see his brother smile back at the soldier, looking absolutely in love, even with tears down his face and blood stains on his jacket. 

Klaus is crying now and Dave kind of is too, and Diego feels like he’s intruding, so he backs out quietly, leaving them alone and hoping more than ever that the apocalypse will be averted, and that Klaus can figure out how to make this thing with Dave work.

Now alone in the infirmary, hands clutching tightly onto hands and smiling reassurances and hope and desperate promises that they can’t guarantee. 

“We’ll figure this out together,” Dave says, and Klaus agrees.

They would figure it out together. And maybe Dave has less than a week to get used to the future before doomsday, and Klaus’ siblings are definitely anything but normal… but they’ll figure it out together.

**Author's Note:**

> I thought of making this heartbreaking and letting Dave die anyway, but I figured maybe if I let him live, I could make this into a series or a multi chapter thing... thoughts?
> 
> comments and kudos are appreciated, thank you for reading :)
> 
> Have a lovely day! 
> 
> (I'm active on twitter! https://twitter.com/queer_angel_ )


End file.
